3D Printing Linking - Remix 2025

  

Challenge:For a student to master the concept of ball and socket linking.

Background: This is a project that was first attempted in 2025.   In it the student involved who was seven and eight during the year spent a considerable amount of their own time attempting to master the concept of 'linking' by producing a unique and original ball and socket design in Tinkercad.

This is a summary of the projects involving linking prior to this.

It was a long term progress that started with video and flipped learning content created by a previous student.   Once this had been completed the student applied their design thinking and  learning to a range of tasks - ultimately producing a range of prints that were used for the 2025 School Market Day for a Christmas range of designs.

One of the most positive aspects of using Tinkercad is the classroom interface and the ability to monitor and access designs, creations and work collaboratively.  As we have a number of classrooms over the years with a bank of designs, having historically access to them at times can allow us to revisit projects.

In the last few years a number of improvements in the quality of 3D Printing has meant that projects that could not be completed due to lack or detail, or too much rafting are now possible.   This linking was revised by the student recently and the print shown left, which was attempted last year but ultimately did not succeed was successfully reprinted.   The student concerned is now returning to a range of 2025 historical designs to see what can be rework, resized and redesigned.

Resources used to complete this project: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu P1S Printer, PLA

Level of Difficulty: High - this print is based around two concepts firstly is the basic outline of the cat.   The crucial part of the design that is the most challenging is the linking, the ball and socket work.   This requires a high degree of engineering to complete successfully.

Size: The print measures 100mm across and is 130mm high.  It has a thickness/width of 10mm.   This is larger for this type of print however it was intended to check the improvement to the linking - if it was going to be produced in larger numbers it would be reduced in size.

Cost/Price: Using regular PLA filament the print used 28g of PLA to complete the print.  This had a price point for $0.70c.   There was no rafting associated with this print.

Timeframe: Bambu Labs (the software that is associated with Bambu printers) has developed further information about the printing process now separating the warm up time and the actual print time.   We can use this information to determine that the print had a total of 59 minutes consisting of six minutes to start the printer operating and a total of 53 minutes of printing time.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:

As noted this was an independent project worked on by the student looking at their designs from last year - they have already used the process to look at a range of potential prints and designs.  They also have the linking (shown left) as a seperate design which they can then import/apply to a range of designs.  Early testing from this print (ie the student testing it) would appear to show that it is extremely robust. 

Step by Step Guide: 3D Printed Flexible Animals

 

One of the most popular series of posts that we've featured on this blog revolved around our students looking at flexible animals, of which there are a number online.  One of our Y8 senior students who had a particular interest in 3D Printing then took it upon herself to teach herself the process on how to make the animals - and then also created a series of step by step how to videos for the purpose of sharing this creation and design work with our students.

Once the student had mastered this process they were able to apply the learning to a variety of animals, all of which followed a similar pattern. 

Following the success of this series of prints were developed the idea further by having students working on accessories for these animals as shown here.

These were key items that featured for sale in our school market day - which you can view by clicking on the link here.

You can few the process and the designs here.   While the student has now graduated from our school we have been able to retain the knowledge and have now a new group of students using these tutorials to perfect this design so the students work will continue.

The process was created in Google Slides if you want to have a copy of this slide or further information then you can email myself at myles.webb@gmail.com

School Holidays NZ - Update: September 2023

It is currently the break between Term Three and Term Four School terms in New Zealand - our students are one week into a two week holiday. We have a major event coming up in November - that is our 2023 Market Day.   This will feature a number of items sold to the local community many of which have been created using some of the specific technology available to our students.  You can see the addition of 'Market Day' tab on our main page.

Our laser cutter is being used in addition to our 3D Printers.   One of the businesses shown left features the MDF Laser Cut planes which have then been spray painted.   

We have also a group of students who during the holidays have been further developing and designing their own 3D Printed animal businesses.   They are roughly divided into two main groups - the first is those who are just exploring their 3D Printing.  These students are using open sourced prints that can then either be modified or 'value added' so that the students can input an aspect of their design.  A number of these businesses and designs have already been featured on this page.

An example of this is the rabbit shown left - the original design is a freely available one from Thingiverse.   The student concerned who is an avid rabbit owner has spray painted the designs (under the appropriate supervision) and then came up with the idea of adding glitter to the designs when the paint had yet dried.   This allowed the glitter to stick to the designs allowing them to sparkle.

This idea came from the students who are working on creating the 'Dragon'.    We have detailed this previously.  We have students who have the eighteen hour printed dragon (online it is described as an 'Ice Dragon' who have worked out how to layer it with the spray painting - who then decided to add glitter to the dragon to give it a dramatic effect when it is tilted slightly.

Again this came from the result of having the students print a design that they wanted to try and use aspects of it to copy another design.    Two students have the two prototypes which they have taken home for the holidays with instructions to play with, manipulate the prints and attempt to think about ways to enhance its presentation.  When the holidays are completed it will be interesting to see how these ideas have developed and what will follow as a result.   The second group of designs are the designs that are created 'from scratch' where the students have followed a process of creating a flexi-animal.   Again examples of this print can be found on this blog.

3D Market Day: Student Business

 

We have detailed during the past year and a half on this blog about a student who has been working on unique designs for a small business that she runs as part of her after school and weekend activities.

Wanting to give her an experience to use the technology in the school to operate a realistic business experience she recently attended a local market where she featured four different 3D Printed designs that had also been spray painted and packaged.

She spent the day selling the items and interacting with some of the members of the public.  An important consideration to remember is this student has developed the CAD software to design this items from scratch has linked them herself via Tinkercad and printed them using the school printers.

To make it a realistic business model we have charged the student for a roll of filament (NZ $31.00) for 1kg roll.  She used this to produce the items for sale.    The cost for each of the prints to be manufactured on this basis (there were the four in total, the Kiwi, The Counting Caterpillar, the Dolphin and the Butterfly all at which have featured at times as posts on this blog - was between 0.50c and 0.85 cents to produce.    We did not include a 'hardware' charge in the pricing.  She was able to manufacture twenty four items for sale - and was able to sell nine of them during the course of the market.  The finished product price that she charged was up to $8.00 per print.

This meant that she has paid back the use of the filament, the spray paint which she used to decorate the design, the bags and packaging and make a modest profit.  Crucially moving forward the remaining items which have not been sold (which is nearly half) will be sold in upcoming markets and with the costs already covered the remaining items represent a hundred percent profit.

The most favoured item that was sold was the 'Counting Caterpillar' which went extremely quickly.   The student intends restocking with this item for the next time she is selling items - this is being used in our junior school at present to determine its viability to help teaching and counting of numbers. 

2023 Market Day - Y3 and Y4 Student Business Updates

We located the 'Giraffe Plant Holders' online via Thingiverse.   We focussed on this item with the design of the animals via spray paint cans and the student has sourced some potential succulents.   The print time for each of the units was three hours as mentioned - our Market Day is not until November however as we are experiencing anticipated extensive use of the school printers so we are preparing them well in advance.  The focus of the business is going to be put onto the research related to the animal and the student producing the information related to it.  You can see the first attempt at the succulent with the Giraffe on the second row on the right.

The Sea-Turtle business has the student who has made the design and again is now focussing on the next part of the project - selecting colour combinations and arranging to have the items sprayed.  The student has completed the process and created an original and fully designed flexi-animal following the instructions provided by an older student in the school.   The student responsible for this business has followed a similar timeline and pattern to the student featured on this blog that involved the 'flexi-dog' as we approach a School Market Day later in the Year.

We located a number of dragons online - the design shown left was found on Thingiverse and is described as an 'Ice Dragon'.    This is freely available file and design - it is a particularly complex design and not something that our junior students would be able to create.  

Our students had a commercial purchased dragon which was shown previously and this was used as the basis for the design - we attempted to replicate the spray painting, the design and the features of the dragon.   We also were able to increase the size of the design significantly as the design shown left is three times the size of the original that we had as a model.   Again we have junior school students working on this to achieve this project - who are seven and eight years old.  

Senior Student: Practical Craft Market Experience

 

One of our most popular series of prints in recent years from both the students perspective and feedback from visitors at our school has been the set of flexi-animals created by a senior student.

This students saw similar examples online and was able to deconstruct the process by identifying the flexi-linking, by using Tinkercad (following some tutorials from Youtube) 

The student has talked in the past about the potential to run a stall at the local market.  Our school has made this possible by making the 3D Printers available and allowed the student to use the machines at the cost of the PLA to produce the prints.   The student is then going to sell these prints (which it should be pointed out she has designed from scratch including making a set of originals) to the general public to see if she can run a small niche business.

The student concerned had a significant number of potential prints available.  However for the market process which she is going through she has settled on four designs for the first market print run.

She choose the Kiwi the symbol of New Zealand as it is a unique and iconic symbol and one of the designs that has received significant feedback.  Details of this print can be located here.

Another practical print with a clear use was the counting caterpillars.   These were commissioned by the junior part of our school who wanted unique counters to assist the students in counting by producing flexible number lines.   The design was initially created here using a slug as the basis before evolving in the caterpillar design.  You can click on the hyperlinks to find out more details about the prints described.

For the final two designs she has opted for the butterfly and dolphin.   Both of these designs have been remodelled since their initial appearances here on this blog.   The butterfly was one of the first complicated prints that the student linked and worked on.  It was this design that was discovered to also work as a floating toy in the school swimming pool.

This project eventually morphed into an excellent series of lessons culminating in a series of creations from the junior school now producing their own versions of these prints.  We intend to update the progress of this process (ie the market selling of these items) once it is complete.  We have previously held a market day at our school where one of the businesses was based on flexi-animals (although these were by and large not produced by the students instead coming from sites like Thingiverse.

3D Printed Flexi-Animals: Juniors

Challenge: For students to create an original flexi-animal

Background: Previously one of the students had produced a long series of flexi animals that were featured on this blog.   The student is still present at our school, as a senior and we looking for ways for her to pass her skills on other students including the Y3 and Y4 students (seven year olds and eight year olds) in my classroom.

While the process potentially was a bit daunting by providing flipped video content (which we intend to potentially to make available to the wider community) the students were able to follow a process.   The process was a little complicated however the end process as shown in the photographs with this post are considered to be extremely successfully, with a student who is a Y4 student able to independently produce a range of prints.

A rabbit was chosen by the student for the first attempt and also allowing the student to question their design, the second version is shown to the right, so the student was able to complete the first print, evaluate it, discuss it and then look at creating the second print shown next to it.    Details changed included the adding of linking into the ears and shortening the distance between the links.

Size: The print is currently standing at 100mm long, has a main height of 50mm and a height from the foot to the ears at the front of 100mm.   The current design has been made 10mm thick.    

Timeframe: Two hours - there is some potential to modify this slightly however the basis between the size of the project, being able to play and manipulate the pieces and have the shape retained.

Level of Difficulty: High - this is not for the faint hearted.   The details of the print and the ability to have the joints and the sockets is something that took the students several attempts to master involving repeatedly referring to the videos that had been created and also sought the advice of the student who designed the original series.

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: The student is keen to continue to refine this basic (rabbit) design and then move onto other more challenging animal shapes.  She wants to further refine her linking until she considers that it is mastered.   This is an ongoing challenge for her (and a small group of students in the classroom as it is providing a viable opportunity to print 3D originals at a reasonable and creative level).

3D Printed Unicorn - Flexi-Animal

Challenge: To produce a working flexi-animal of a unicorn.

Background: This design has come from a student whose work has featured extensively on this site.  The student has consistently demonstrated innovation and creativity to complete these designs.   She has 'cracked the code' with regards to their creation.  Initially she saw the originals that featured in our 'market day" projects.  By linking a video via Youtube - that is from Eunny entitled 'Ball Hinge with Tinkercad' she was able to understand the engineering principal and process behind it.

The other issue is the location of the image for the animal.  The student in this case is using a free site - freesvg.org to locate images and then convert them into an .stl file.   Once they have been then imported in Tinkercad the files are then sized, and the linking is applied.

The student concerned here has the process sorted and is able to complete these prints in a very short time-frame to produce a professionally looking quality print.

Level of Difficulty - For the student doing this work it would be low however this is a skilful student who has shown ability and been able to produce a range of prints so if that is considered it is perhaps not as easily as it seems.

Size: The print measures 170mm across from the tip of the horn to the tail, is 100mm high at the shoulder of the animal and was printed 7mm thick.   This produced a print that was perfect for the purpose of a student or an adult holding it.

Timeframe: Two and a half hours, on regular setttings for the printer.

Next Steps for the Student/What we would do differently: Nil - this ticks all the boxes from the student input (which is 100%) to the design shape and functionality.   

Junior Printing Resource: Original Design

Challenge: To produce a design to assist juniors (five year olds) with their counting.

Background: This process has been detailed on this blog in a series of post, but was finished today and hence the update.

Originally we were looking at using pre-existing prints to create this animal or object.   The criteria was that it needed to be a flexi-animal so it could be manipulated and have the numbers sequenced so that a student could use it as a number line counting tool.   In doing so having used various existing prints caused a challenge - having exactly the right combination of numbers and segments meant we dismissed a number of options.    It was eventually decided to custom make the entire design with a simple theme or idea.   This would allow us to create a number line of any desired length, in addition to using our own design we could target skip counting - that is we could include number sequences that we wanted the students to learn that might not be available on another counting design.   We also wanted it to be robust enough to be constantly handled and moved and manipulated by the students who are extremely young and enthusiastic.

Level of Difficulty: Medium-High, this is another print that involves a level of linking of the print.   This concept while it can be learnt and designed from video is a somewhat challenge for some students (although it has been mastered as noted on this blog by an eleven year old).   

Size: We are currently looking at a design at that is 230mm long is 30mm high and is 5mm in width.   This is looking like it will be the basis for a ten group of numbers.    Further attempts will be made to print to twenty and using doubles to include larger numbers and digits.   This is very much a work in progress which will be subject to the students using and testing the design until it is considered right.

Timeframe: Two and a half hours at present.   This maybe modified to increase the space/size depending on the digits being used but will be used as a base.   

What we would do differently/next steps for the students: Its over to students in our junior school to work out where to next with this design and to ensure that it works.   We will be 'road testing' it in our junior school, getting feedback from the students and teachers and modifying it as a result.

3D Printed Junior Counting Resource: Nearly there....

 

We have replaced the scales that were part of the top of the crocodile scales as this meant the numbers were less than visible, the solution was to remove the scales to allow the numbers to stand out.

The design has otherwise gone through only a small level of change.   The idea is for rote counting to five and ten, starting with the crocodile.

The numbers have also been enlarged with a bigger font and one that goes to the edge of the print.

This was the original attempt without the removal of the scales.

A key issue is looking at how robust the print will be with the numbers so close to edges.  Our solution to this is have the target audience (which in this case is five year old children) to test and test this print to ensure that it works, that they enjoy using it and it can last.

We are currently unsure about using spray paint to change the colour of the print.  As it is going to be something that is frequently handled it is anticipated that this is not necessary.

The print is still coming in at around the two hour mark.

The linking has already been recreated from an original design that we located on the Thingiverse website.

It is our anticipation that this range of counting material will be successfully printed within the coming days.

Using 3D Printers to Make Targeted Counting Resources: Counting

Challenge: To produce an active manipulated 3D Print that juniors in the school could use to help with their counting.

Background: As mentioned our students recently ran a business day/marketing day and as a result there was considerable exposure to some of our students 3D Printing throughout the community and our school.  One of the unexpected off shoots of the flexi-animals is that there appeared to be an obvious direction to go in using them to assist with rote counting for junior students (that is students who were as young as five.

Our starting point on this project was using a range of animals that we had previous experience in where we knew the prints would be linked and robust and allow repeated handling.   The challenge was to combine this and something that the junior school teacher would then be happy to use - and wonderfully the teacher concerned has so far asked the students to refine their designs repeatedly.    The teacher is looking for a base ten and five animal but has stressed the importance of the uniformity of the segments of the animal, thus in the example shown left the slug, which had previously worked as an animal only had four segments that were equal size.  The students applied the fifth segment as the tail but it was smaller than the others and the teacher asked for a redesign.

A quick redesign of the slug saw the number five dropped further into the base design.   The students have quickly identified that the numbers will need to be sunk into the design as if they are raised above the design that will be susceptible to being knocked off over time.    A reprint saw the 'five' clearly visible however the teacher strongly felt that the print needed equal segments and asked for a redesign.  A similar fault was found with the bat shown above.   The design was received positively by the test group (ie a group of five year old students at our school) however the teacher who is ultimately going to use the design felt that the body of the bat and the subsequent gap that it presented would prove to be a barrier for the students using the number line to count.   Putting a number in this location meant the number was not suitable either.   The students are moving in the direction of creating a specific item or animal to meet the teachers brief and using the assistance of the student whose work we have featured extensively on this blog.

While the 'counting crocodile design, featured left had the students showing some promise the teacher, while happy with the amounts of segments that were presented (five) was not happy with the texture that was produced by the scales of the crocodile.   They felt that by having the numbers combined with them that they were less visible that if the back was plain and therefore it was not suitable as the counting tool.

Again we cannot say enough positive things about the fact that this teacher is challenging the students to refine and problem solve their design and look at making directed improvements.   It is an excellent learning experience and one that is making the students think critically and redesign their work.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - High.   This project is making something that has a specific purpose requiring specific dimensions and details.   While the prototypes shown in these examples are generic (ie designed from Thingiverse that are freely available) the students are almost certainly going to need to design their own range of linking animals.   The teacher would also like specific skip counting designs such as counting in twos.   This will require a group to make design challenges to meet the brief.

Size:   While there is various current designs in this process, this has been prior to testing to ensure they are printed at a size that suits the (junior) students.  The current slug (which has been enlarged for the numbers) is 150mm long and 20mm across.   The counting crocodile is currently 140mm long, 20mm wide and 15mm high.   The counting bat is currently the largest of the units, being 160mm long, 100 mm high and is 5mm thick.   Again all these sizes are based around getting the numbers correct with a view to counting in blocks of five or ten - once the teacher who is checking is happy with the product.

Timeframe: The slug being the smallest is coming in with a print time of just over one hour.   The crocodile currently is two hours while the bat being the largest is currently just over four.

What we would do differently/next steps for students:   Until the teacher who wants the manipulative created is happy this project will be ongoing.   As mentioned the best aspect is that the teacher has not been happy and has been constantly wanting refinement and improvement.

3D Printed Flexi Animals- Mini Giraffe

 

Challenge: To produce a mini version of a flexi-animal.

Background: We were looking at a combination of originality, having articulation built into the design and having the animal be easily recognisable.  The student responsible for this design is working on a range of designs that have come out now - she has produced nearly twenty with full articulation and linking.  Very shortly we are going to start putting these online on Thingiverse where the original inspiration for the prints came from.

The student has the capability to produce these kinds of prints and the drive and design skills to do so.  As we have stated many times there is no input what so ever coming from the teacher the student is working in Tinkercad to produce the designs and then bringing them across for printing.  It is at the stage now where there is no alterations required for the prints - they are being produced with an accuracy and balance that means that they can be relied upon to be completed and 'perfect' the first time.

Level of Difficulty: Medium - we have mentioned in the pat that this student (who is a Y7 student, a twelve year old) is making this look easy.  Its not necessarily the case.  However while some of the earlier prints in this series needed refinement, such as the Kiwi, these designs are now including detail that might not be obvious such as the linking in the neck, which is more detailed than the rest of the body.

Size: This mini version measures 60mm across the base of the body, is 130mm tall/high and is 5mm thick.  This was specifically designed for these dimensions to minimise the printing time and the amount of PLA that was used.  As has been mentioned before with the new Snapmaker printers the prints are being produced with near no rafting or additional waste plastic.

Timeframe: This was printing in just over an hour.   Given the specifications and the intention with the print there isn't much that would be changed relative to the size of the print.

What we would do differently/next steps for the student: Nothing - this is exactly what the student had in mind when they created this print and the dimensions and make-up of the print have worked perfectly.

3D Printed Flexi Animals - Cat

Challenge: The student responsible for designing the flexi-animals has been challenged to come up with more extensive projects, which she is currently working on.

Background: However she has also been completing additional work as a side project.  It is not an exaggeration to say that she has mastered the art of producing these prints.  She is sourcing a freely made silhouette and then converting it into an svg file.  Following this she is then editing the print in Tinkercad to include the linking of the sections that make up the flexi part of the design.  Once printed she involves herself in checking the flexibility of the animal - refining the design checking on its linking and making sure that it has the right 'feel' to it (such as adjusting the location of some of the links).

Level of Difficulty: Medium.  This student has mastered the art of the creating these designs and having them balanced and detailed.   They are something that she has shown a great deal of skill with.

Size and Print time: The print measured 120mm across, is 70mm high (excluding the tail) and is 10mm thick.   This has equated to a print on the Snapmaker for two and a half hours.   Given the dimensions and size of the print this would be correct for this project.

What we would do differently: Nothing - this is a student working to the highest level.   She is showing creativity and designs of the highest quality.    As a school we are creating a range of the students designs and looking at gifting to those who visit our school - you can see a range of the 'kiwi' flexi-design from the student featured previously on this blog in the photograph.

Original Articulated Animals: Further Designs

 

The Y7 student responsible for the recent production of a number of articulated animals has over the past week or so completed the design of a number in the series. 

In each instance she has followed a similar pattern she has located a pubic domain image of an animal (which has been source from a variety of internet search locations) once she has been able to import this into Tinkercad she has then applied the linking for the design (as followed initially via tutorial however she has since mastered this to the point she can complete it independently).  

Following this it is simply a matter of producing a 'test' print so that she has been satisfied with the linking (in some cases the location
has needed to be slightly altered).  This has allowed a final print to be produced.

The student regularly attends local craft market where she sells a range of goods that she produces herself (earrings, as has been featured on this site)

The school is arranging to make the snapmaker available for the student and the printers to be used with the PLA available as cost price and the student will be able to use the printers to manufacture items for sale.   This will in our opinion encourage the students creativity, expose the community to something unique that has been created by a student using technology at the school and provide them with an opportunity which they would not otherwise have had.

We are refining the prints during the holidays including looking at the student perfecting the linking and silhouette selection to allow them to produce a master set of unique, creative 3D Prints.

Original Articulated Animal Design: Butterfly

 Now that we have completed work on the school market day the students are looking at addressing projects from prior to this timeframe that require completion.   As noted the majority of the prints of animals for our market day were the articulated animals located on Thingiverse.    While these were a good starting point we wanted to look at developing our own prints.

As featured here on the site we have a number of students working on developing original prints, which was started by the kiwi.   In the same group was the butterfly.   This was attempted to be printed previously although we had a faulty part on the machine (since replaced) which has allowed the following to be completed.

The process for the design of the butterfly involved brainstorming the idea, the students had identified how to complete the linking via a tutorial video on Youtube.    The design for the butterfly was sourced online.

The print measured 120mm across and was 90mm high at the tip of the wings and 60mm high at the top of the abdomen.   The print was 10mm high and took three hours to print.   The linking was quite loose however it was effective and worked extremely well.  The student used the component stages and then produced the final print in Tinkercad before it was converted using the Snapmaker Luban software before being print.

Tinkercad as a design program for our students works extremely well.  We have used it for a number of years at our 1:1 iPad School.  The students predominantly use Apple Laptops to create the prints although we have some students who use iPads to create the design.   As a teacher I also think that Tinkercad has excellent Educator/Teacher interface and the ability to host a classroom in a easy and adaptable manner.  The classrooms at school have school accounts created and linked to them and the students are able to design and create and then easily share and modify their designs.

The student as noted in this case has been able to design the butterfly essentially from scratch and the student researched and identified the linking via youtube - and thus was able to present to the teacher the final print which was then able to be directly printed without any modification.    This student has shown creativity and invention with her work and had two years experience using Tinkercad and the Ultimaker printers that were previously in the classroom.   

Snapmaker as a printer also has software that is available that works in conjunction with the printer/Tinkercad to produce the final results.  Again the software associated with this is exceptional, easy to manipulate and develop and produces excellent result.

Key to the final product, and we have mentioned this before, is that there is literally zero waste that is produced as a result of the printing - and the consistency with the print job is fantastic.   The linking/print comes out as a single piece already linked and completed.   This allows the students to produce an eye catching and creative design finished to an extremely high standard.   This is an exceptional project and exceptional example of student creativity.

3D Printed Market Day - Articulated Animals: Designed Prints.

 

This is the finished draft of the Flexi-animals, which were located on Thingiverse and have been produced during the previous few weeks.   The students have selectively spray painted some of them and created packaging to go with their designs.   The slug is backed on MDF which was laser cut, the other animals have simple and straightforward designs created by a Y5 student using Pic Collage.  All of the animals have an information link on the back (via a student created QR Code).     The print time of the animals featured varies slightly from two and a half hours (tiger, snake and shark) to forty five minutes (slug).

Spray Painting 3D Prints

 

As we continue towards our school market day, which our 3D Printers and our snapmaker have such a major role to play, we have continued to look at ways to add to the students 3D Printing experience.

We have advertisements and business lessons planned around the material used to make the 3D Prints (the students have calculated how much PLA they have used for each of their prints to come up with a realistic charge for using the printer) and profit and loss statements.

In the above photograph you can see the desk organisers which have now been spray painted to complete their presentation.   While these have not featured in a specific print post on this blog, we have detailed the creation of this sort of project in years (!) on this blog.   The only exception is to note once again we find ourselves talking very positively about the use of the Snapmaker to complete the project in terms of not only time but also design and waste, both of which have shown significant improvement since switching machines.

As shown left the Tigers, previously detailed on this blog have undergone a significant transformation with a spray of orange and black to represent more traditional colour of a tiger.   The snakes having been printed in lilac green have had a spray of green on the top (which looks particularly striking with the underneath complementing it)

It goes without saying the students themselves have been thrilled with the results, the details and the overall look of the animals from this project.     We were able to complete this spray painting with some budget aerosol cans which were available from a locally supplied shop.   The quality of the paint was extremely pleasing.

Market Day Project: Slugs (Articulated)

We have talked at length about our school/student market day that is fast approaching when we are hoping to use the technology that we have available for our students to showcase projects that they have been working on.

The Snapmaker 3D Printer has been an important part of this with a number of groups opting to create various Flexi animals or create a range of accessories that relate or can work in with them.   

While we have featured some of these animals already one in particular needs to be highlighted due to the length of time, and discussions in the staff room have led to additional usage potential.

We sourced the articulated slug from Thingiverse.  As a print it is ideal in that its total print times is forty five minutes.   There is absolutely zero waste or rafting associated with the print.

The business run by the students intends to create additional media around caring and looking after the slug.

The slug measures 100mm long and 20mm wide with a height of 10mm.   It has five points of articulation and a head with two antenna on the end of it.

There was some concern that the antenna would be brittle or easily broken however handling this reasonably has led to no breakages.

The additional use of the slug has been expressed by one of the junior teachers who wishes to potentially use a group of the slugs to teach times tables or skip counting.   The teacher believes that by being able to handle the prints that a student could skip count using the print to handle and manipulate the numbers and the counting.   The slugs could be coloured coded with the segments being spray painted for different colour and number combinations.

The other thing that occurred during the printing of one of the slugs was a power cut.   The power cut eliminated electricity for the 3D Printer for ten to fifteen seconds.   The printer was able to recognise that the power had been cut - and was able to complete the print continuing from the point where the print stopped.   When this had occurred with the previous printer that we were using and featured on this blog it would result in the printer needing to be unblocked and the print started again.   This could cause major issues that would take several hours to potentially repair.

Market Day Animals Accessories

 

Challenge: Creation of original accessories to add depth to flexi-animals for market day.

Background: As part of the market day the students are using the Snapmaker printer to create a range of flexi-animals for sale.   The question has been what is the content that the students can create that is original but fits in with style and design of the animal.   Originally the students were looking to manufacture and design a to scale accessory, however following a discussion about the viability of this the students decided to opt for 'comedy' accessories or accessories that were super sized but didn't necessarily stay true to scale, hence the size of the bone shown.     The other item clearly shown here is the dog bowl which is complete with food.  Both are created using Tinkercad - the students were able to identify the items, the theme was related to the animal.   The label was created from logomaker.com and the only other aspect that needs to be explained is the movie or the information.   This was created via a QR code which is on the reverse of the label

Level of Difficulty: Low - student was able to produce the bone and bowl from the basic interface in five minutes and was printed without any adjustment.

Size: The bone was 50mm across, 20mm wide and 10mm high.   These dimensions focussed on producing something not too small.   The food bowl was 25 across and 8mm high.   

Timeframe: Using the Snapmaker twenty minutes from start to finish for each.

What we would do differently/next steps for students: Spray painting and working out a way to add the small details with the print.

The students reasoned that the same accessories for the dog would work with the Tiger, as shown left.   Perhaps something more unique could be designed but overall very happy with the result.

3D Printed Student Business: Market Day Animals

Challenge: For students to use a 3D Printer to run a successful business for school market day.

Background: As mentioned previously the students are currently working to run a business.  We wanted to include 3D Printing in this aspect of the business as it allowed the students to create something memorable for the students.   Ideally we wanted the students to create a unique animal for the 3D Printed animals and while this was successful (see the Kiwi print) we also wanted to have an opportunity to have the printer use and create the other animals.   The question that we needed to resolve with this was what was the creative input from the students - if they were printing an available 3D Print (in this case design and located via Thingiverse) What would the role of the students be?   

The answer to this was the packaging that came with the product.     The labelling was created by using Logo Maker and then printed out.

For the back of the label had a printed QR Code - this led to additional information the students created two seperate sets of information.

The first was a movie about the animal featuring it in a series of adventures where the students made a short film featuring the animal.  In the second there was animal facts about the featured animals with a more serious non-fiction text.    Both these creative outlets allowed the students to create something to tie in directly with the 3D Print to be creative and orginal.